Kuwaiti woman 'held for driving in Saudi'

Kuwait, November 3, 2013

A Kuwaiti woman was arrested in Saudi Arabia for trying to drive her father to hospital, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Sunday, a week after Saudi women protested against a ban on female drivers.

Kuwaiti women are free to drive in their country, while women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.

The English language Kuwait Times said the woman was driving in an area just over the border, with her father in the passenger seat, when she was stopped by police. Kuwaitis and Saudi locals regularly cross the border and communities living along the frontier are often a mix of people from both countries.

The woman, who said her diabetic father could not drive and needed to be taken to hospital for treatment, is being held in custody pending an investigation, the paper said, citing police.

The paper did not suggest that the woman was protesting Saudi Arabia's ban on female drivers.

Saudi police in the border town Al-Khafji referred calls to the local traffic police, who could not be reached for comment. Officials in the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry said they could not comment on reports of incidents outside Kuwait. - Reuters